A Taiwan express train with almost 500 aboard derailed in a tunnel on Friday, killing over 50 passengers and injuring over 60 in the island’s worst rail disaster in almost four decades.
Images from the scene showed carriages in the tunnel ripped apart by the impact, with others crumpled, hindering rescuers in their efforts to reach passengers, although by mid-afternoon no one was still trapped.
The train came off the rails after apparently hitting a truck that had slid off a road from a nearby construction site.
Taiwan media said many people were standing as the train was so crowded, and were tossed about by the crash impact. Media showed pictures of survivors being led out of the tunnel. It also reported that the truck was suspected to have slid off the sloping road into the path of the train, as its handbrake had not been engaged, and added that police had taken in its driver for questioning.
The accident came at the beginning of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.
Images from the scene showed carriages in the tunnel ripped apart by the impact, with others crumpled, hindering rescuers in their efforts to reach passengers, although by mid-afternoon no one was still trapped.
The train came off the rails after apparently hitting a truck that had slid off a road from a nearby construction site.
Taiwan media said many people were standing as the train was so crowded, and were tossed about by the crash impact. Media showed pictures of survivors being led out of the tunnel. It also reported that the truck was suspected to have slid off the sloping road into the path of the train, as its handbrake had not been engaged, and added that police had taken in its driver for questioning.
The accident came at the beginning of a long weekend for the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.
